The hosts were biding for a three-peat, but their neighbours to the west had other ideas altogether.
Team Alberta, featuring Blackie residents Mason McCarty and Brady Reagan, earned a silver medal at the 2012 Western Hockey League’s (WHL) Western Canada U16 Challenge Cup after dropping the final 9-3 to a dominant Team B.C on Nov. 4 at Father David Bauer Arena.
“It’s definitely not a good feeling, pit in the stomach, the team is down,” McCarty said. “We still feel like we did good. We just didn’t have our greatest game. If we played them again we would match them better.”
Team B.C. and Alberta squared off in the round-robin opener and it took a late comeback and overtime winner for the west-coast outfit to win 3-2 on Nov. 2.
McCarty said the rematch in the final featured a much more nervous Team Alberta on the ice.
“It’s for the gold medal and we had all of Alberta behind us and the nerves got to us,” he said.
Team B.C. carried a 5-3 lead after a dominant opening period, including a hat trick from player of the game Jansen Harkins, outshooting the hosts by a 17-8 margin.
B.C. would remain opportunistic in the second period with three goals and added another in the opening minutes of the third, despite Alberta holding the territorial advantage for much of the second half of the game.
“We were trying, we just didn’t get any bounces, and sometimes the hockey gods just have it that way,” McCarty said. “There’s something about that B.C. team they have a lot of size and strength. We were trying to outmuscle them and work our way in and it was definitely tough.”
Reagan, who moved to Blackie in the summer after living in the Okanagan and practising with Team B.C., said it was challenging to play against his former comrades.
“From playing against them last year I knew what their skill was like,” said Reagan, a student at Foothills Composite High School. “I could play against them and teach my teammates about what they do.”
British Columbia featured an array of offensive talent, highlighted by Mathew Barzal, the first overall pick in the 2012 WHL Draft, who finished with a goal and four points in the final.
Reagan said he enjoyed the challenge of playing against the future Seattle Thunderbird.
“That’s the part of the game I love,” Reagan said. “I love the competition and Matt Barzal is a really good player, really fun to play against when you’re doing the right things.”
The smooth-skating defenceman credited head coach Bryce Thoma and the Team Alberta brass for preparing the team given such little time to work with beforehand.
“We came together so quick and it was good to get to know all the boys,” Reagan said. “Everyone has got to learn new systems which is the challenging part, but we made it to the finals and unfortunately lost.”
Alberta finished second in round-robin play with a 2-1 record, including the 3-2 loss to B.C. in the opener followed by an 8-1 romp of Manitoba and a 3-1 victory over Saskatchewan on Nov. 3 to advance to the final.
McCarty called the Western Canada Challenge Cup a life-changing experience.
“I learned a lot off ice and having the Alberta crest on my chest was a huge honour,” McCarty said. “It was amazing.”
Reagan agreed, adding the tournament experience should help him make the jump to the WHL with the Regina Pats, the team who drafted him 31st overall in May.
“A lot of these guys you’ll hear their names up in the WHL next year and it helps my confidence a lot,” Reagan said. “It will help me move up just by knowing more people and seeing the type of skill I have to catch up to and move on past.”
In the bronze medal game, Team Saskatchewan edged Manitoba 2-1.
